Метка: Hyundai Motorsport

Neuville, Tanak free to fight for WRC title


Hyundai has reiterated its drivers Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak are currently free to fight for the World Rally Championship without fear of team orders, according to team principal Cyril Abiteboul.

The Korean manufacturer’s two full-time drivers Neuville and Tanak are split by eight points in the title race after last weekend’s Rally Latvia with five rounds of the season remaining.

Neuville has led the championship since winning the opening round in Monte Carlo in January although his advantage was cut significantly in Latvia after struggling while opening the road at the high-speed gravel rally.

The Belgian had taken a 15-point margin over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans and 21-point lead over Tanak heading into the rally, but events in Latvia has left the top three covered by 13 points.

Abiteboul mentioned before the start of the season that his drivers would receive “absolute parity” from the team, but there would be a point in the season when an internal review would take place where team orders could be implemented.

With the title race so finely poised, Abiteboul expects his drivers to continue to fight each other for the title.

Podium: Winners Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1, second place Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1, third place Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Podium: Winners Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1, second place Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1, third place Dani Sordo, Candido Carrera, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

“Of course, they can fight, and they have to fight. If one of the two is not fighting, it means probably losing a position to our competition from a team perspective or in the drivers’ championship, which we have no reason to do at this point,” Abiteboul told Autosport/Motorsport.com.

“I would say that we would not be shy if there is a necessity to [back one of our drivers in the future], but I don’t think that there is a necessity to right now.

“We’ve done some stuff over the weekend that maybe went under the radar. Esapekka [Lappi] let Thierry go by on Friday and played a team game and that helps. These are the sort of things that we are doing.

“But when it’s so tight, and Elfyn is very close obviously and [Sebastien] Ogier is coming back quick I don’t think there is much you can ask for at this point in the season, so we’ll keep on pushing for giving the best possible condition to these two guys and if something was to occur in the season, we would do it. But it’s obviously not the right moment.”

Although frustrated at being hampered by road position in Latvia, Neuville is refusing to let his desire to score a maiden world title drop.

“We will continue pushing. We’re still first in the championship. The next event [in Finalnd] will be very challenging as well but what can we do?” Neuville told Autosport/Motorsport.com.

“Obviously I would have loved to be first on the Power Stage [in Latvia], but again, the conditions weren’t good enough and on Sunday morning I was spinning a lot of wheels, trying to push the maximum and I was using a lot of the tyres.”

Tanak’s timely haul of 22 points in Latvia despite a myriad of problems, including being delayed by an inflatable promotional arch, has brought the Estonian firmly into the title fight, which he expects will continue until the final round.

“The rally [in Latvia] has not been good. The rally has been full of entertainment, so we’ve been always fighting back,” Tanak told Autosport/Motorsport.com.

“We had a wrong tyre choice in the first stage and then after we struggled with the car, and then we lost the brakes. It’s always been a hard fight, but then Sunday went in our favour [scoring the maximum 12 points].

“We are just playing, and this [title fight] will go until the end of the year so we will see.”

Hyundai also leads the manufacturers’ championship by a point from Toyota heading in Finland next month.

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Hyundai calls for investigation into bizarre Tanak arch incident


Hyundai has called for a “clear and transparent” investigation to understand why its World Rally Championship driver Ott Tanak was delayed by a fallen inflatable promotional arch at Rally Latvia.

Stage 14 provided one of the strangest incidents of the season when a promotional arch halted fourth-placed Tanak.

Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja collected the arch that was lying across the road after Toyota’s Elfyn Evans clipped the inflatable structure following a wild moment during his pass, which caused the arch to deflate and collapse.

The stage wasn’t red-flagged before Tanak arrived on the scene, and as a result, his i20 became entangled in the arch. The stage was eventually halted to clear the incident while Tanak, Takamoto Katsuta and Adrien Fourmaux were issued nominal times, having been caught up in the red flag aftermath.

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A frustrated Tanak took aim at race control for not stopping the stage sooner.

“I think this exactly describes how we are in safe hands in terms of race control. Probably they were having a nice meal and good wine when on the cameras you could see the road is blocked and there is a car coming. Well done race control, you are really taking care of us,» said Tanak on the television broadcast.

“We are ok but f****** hell, you could see the road was blocked and you keep it running. Hopefully, it was a good wine.”

Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team

Ott Tänak, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Event organisers have since issued the following statement to explain what happened: “Car number 33 [Elfyn Evans] left the stage, damaging the supports of an inflatable branding arch towards the end of SS14 on Saturday afternoon at Tet Rally Latvia.

“It was clear there was damage to the arch and two staff, positioned specifically to ensure the safety of the arch moved immediately to remove it from the road. They were not able to do this prior to the arrival of car number 8 [Ott Tanak].”

While the incident ultimately didn’t affect the leaderboard, Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul wants answers to ensure this incident isn’t repeated in the future.

“What’s bizarre is the time it took for anyone who is responsible for monitoring the situation and assessing what to do,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

“We are in a world of extreme connectivity, extreme agility, and I think that we should make sure that we have the devices that are needed in order to red flag when there is something that is totally blocking the road. They [Ott and Martin] had absolutely no escape, nowhere to go.

“The FIA has reached out [to us] and I think we really need to get a proper investigation of what has happened and what is the existing system.

“Was the system in default because of the plane situation [the WRC’s TV relay aircraft was grounded in the afternoon due to a technical issue]? But if that’s the case, there should be contingency measures.

“I would call for, simply, a clear and transparent investigation about the steps that will be taken to make sure that it doesn’t happen again in the future, because it’s very clear that there was enough time to red flag the stage.”

When asked if he felt Tanak would receive a penalty for his comments directed at race control, Abiteboul added: “I hope that common sense will prevail rather than spending time about a penalty. We should spend more resources and time and effort in understanding how it can happen or how it could be avoided in the future.”



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Why Neuville believes WRC Rally Latvia could be his “most challenging”


The World Rally Championship’s inaugural visit to Latvia is poised to be the most challenging of the season to date for points leader Thierry Neuville.

The Hyundai driver heads to Latvia’s high-speed gravel stages with a 15-point lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, but believes he’ll have a battle on his hands to maintain his advantage due to several factors.

The Baltic nation’s 20 stages are largely unknown by everyone, creating a level playing field, although Neuville will have the disadvantage of being the first to tackle them, virtue of his road position.

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While the Belgian has carried this burden since the opening round of the championship, he feels this weekend it will have the most significant effect. Unlike other rallies where loops of stages are repeated, providing cleaner conditions for the second pass, five of Friday’s eight stages will be only run once.

Coupled with the absence of a midday service to make changes to his i20 N and a lack of testing before the event, this has left Neuville to fear the worst.

“I mean it could be the most challenging if you consider that we have never been here and we discover the surface of the roads, and the fact we have had no real testing for that event,” Neuville told Motorsport.com.

“There are mainly first-pass stages on Friday, there’s lots of cleaning and additionally to that again there is no midday service. So, if you go with the wrong set-up now you basically stick with it for the whole day, so this makes it really challenging.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Neuville has already found the limits during Thursday morning’s shakedown, when he was fortunate to survive a wild venture into a ditch.

“Obviously, it is really slippery. We went out there to see where the limits are, and I think I found them,” he smiled.

The shakedown highlighted another concern for crews in the form of the wooden pole serving as anti-cut devices, placed on certain corners. Some of those had been removed while drivers felt organisers had deployed too many and positioned them too close to the edge of the road.

“Obviously, it’s disturbing, for sure. I mean, sometimes there are three or four in one corner,” Neuville added.

“If the first two are missing, you are tempted to go into the corner, and suddenly you end up in the corner with two poles in the middle of the road, so it’s a bit of a concern, but generally speaking, I guess that the organiser will do the job to make sure that they are in place every time.”

Neuville’s nearest title rival, Evans, added: “It’s not very natural, the character of the stage and it’s not very nice to drive.

“When they [the anti-cut devices] are not where you expect them to be, [that] is the issue because you start to open up a whole can of worms where the inside of corners haven’t been checked.

“We will have to wait to see how it plays out, but I don’t think it’s ideal.”

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Photo by: Toyota Racing

M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux echoed Evans’ thoughts and went as far to say it was a “nightmare” situation in shakedown.

“The wooden poles are a bit of a nightmare. They change too much the angle of the corners, and we study this a lot,” he said.

“Then when somebody cuts the corner [and the posts are gone] we then start to cut in some places that have not been checked, there could be rocks or something. The poles are placed too much on the road and not in the cut.”



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Tanak unharmed after high-speed crash at Rally Estonia



World Rally Championship title contender Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja have escaped unharmed from a high-speed crash at Rally Estonia.

The pair were driving a WRC-specification Hyundai i20 Rally1 car in the national class of the event, which this weekend is hosting the fourth round of the European Rally Championship. The rally offered a chance for Tanak and Jarveoja to log some extra mileage ahead of WRC rounds on fast gravel in Latvia and Finland.

A video on social media has captured Tanak losing control of his i20 N at high speed during the Raanitsa stage, which pitched the car into a roll before it appeared to come to rest in a ditch.

 

Images of the car have confirmed the i20 N suffered heavy damage and will be unable to be repaired to continue competing in Estonia.

Tanak and Jarveoja were taken to hospital in the rally’s host city, Tartu, for medical checks. The 2019 world champion declared on social media that he and Martin were ok.

“While participating here at Rally Estonia we had an accident on today’s first stage SS2 Raanitsa,” read a post on Tanak’s social media.

“Due to the nature of the crash, we’ve been taken for medical checks at the hospital in Tartu. Both myself and Martin are feeling well and we’re ok.

“Unfortunately, it will not be possible to participate further on Rally Estonia due to the amount of work needed to repair the car.” 

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The accident continued a run of misfortune for Tanak after crashing out of stage two at last weekend’s Rally Poland when he was unable to avoid a collision with a deer that had jumped out into the road.

Hyundai is set to compete in another national rally next week with Esapekka Lappi entering the Lietuva Rally in Lithuania to prepare for his WRC return in Latvia later this month.



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Neuville wants more Hyundai WRC seat time to prepare for Latvia, Finland


World Rally Championship points leader Thierry Neuville is keen for a national rally outing or extra seat time to help prepare for upcoming fast gravel rallies in Latvia and Finland.

Neuville revealed his desire for more time behind the wheel of his Rally1 i20 N after his points lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans decreased from 18 to 15 points during a frustrating Rally Poland last week. 

The Belgian has previously found fast gravel rallies difficult, but last year made significant progress on those types of roads, highlighted by second-place finishes in Estonia and Finland.

However, Neuville admitted that he struggled with new engine mapping on his i20 N in Poland on top of the disadvantage of starting first on the road. As a result, he finished fourth overall, picking up 14 points.

«On Saturday I missed two extra points by one tenth [to Rally1 debutant Martins Sesks] and on Sunday I missed an extra point by three tenths [to Evans], so it is really frustrating,» Neuville told Motorsport.com after collecting six points on Saturday, three on Sunday and five in the Power Stage.

«We came here with new engine maps, and I didn’t feel comfortable since the beginning with it, so I lost some time.

«And I was cleaning the road, so a lot of things came together basically.»

With testing restricted to 21 days per manufacturer across a year, Neuville is seeking opportunities for more outings behind the wheel.

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

The testing limit set by the FIA is designed to cut costs, but teams have circumvented the restrictions by fielding cars into national rallies outside of the WRC calendar.

Hyundai has already taken this approach this season when Andreas Mikkelsen contested an asphalt rally in Alba, Italy in April, while Ott Tanak is set to drive the i20 N Rally1 in an invitational class at Rally Estonia next week.

«I would like to [do a private rally], and I will definitely ask my team for an opportunity to drive before the next rally,» added Neuville.

«My last time testing in Finland [at Hyundai’s test base] was on snow in February. The second last test was cancelled and the other one, was only for Andreas and Ott.

«I definitely need more seating time on those fast roads.»

Hyundai’s WRC programme manager Christian Loriaux says the team will look into Neuville’s request.

«It is not in the plan at the moment, but there is always a chance, but we will have to look into it,» he told Motorsport.com

«Budgets are not infinity, and we need time and the test car available. But for sure it is not to be excluded.»

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Hyundai call to retire Tanak in Rally Poland was a “mistake”


World Rally Championship points leader Thierry Neuville believes it was a mistake for Hyundai to retire Ott Tanak’s car after stage 12 at Rally Poland.

Hyundai elected to retire Tanak’s i20 N after Saturday morning’s loop to prepare to challenge for the 12 points on offer on Super Sunday.

The decision came with Tanak already out of the fight for victory and Saturday points after an unavoidable collision with a deer forced him to retire from stage two on Friday.

Tanak rejoined the rally on Saturday morning acting as road sweeper and another car ahead of Neuville and team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen in the road order.  

With Tanak absent from the afternoon stages, Neuville moved up a spot in the road order. The Belgian, who made a small error in stage 15, ultimately ended the day finishing fifth, 0.1s behind Rally1 debutant Martins Sesks, and lost two championship points in the process.  

“It was definitely not a help for us, that’s for sure,” Neuville told Motorsport.com when asked about the decision to retire Tanak.

“I mean, each car you can have in front cleaning the road is an advantage, especially in a championship fight where every single point really counts. I think it was a mistake, but this is what it is.

“It could have been valuable kilometres as well for the car, trying different things without any question.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team

Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul explained the rationale behind the decision.

“The thinking is that with the current regulation of the super rally and we were so far behind that there was absolutely nothing to gain,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

“We started [Ott] in the morning because we wanted to do a proper shakedown of the car after the repair.

“We also wanted to give a bit of relief to Thierry by having an extra car doing a bit of cleaning in the morning when it mattered, but in the afternoon obviously the benefits are lower, and it was very clear that, you know, nothing would be happening that would really help Ott in the championship or in or in the starting order for tomorrow.

“So, when that is the case, we prefer to get the crew to recover a bit and focus on the preparation for Sunday, because that has to be for him the biggest charge.”

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Rally leader Tanak crashes out, Mikkelsen leads from debutant Sesks


Tanak had been tipped among the favourites to win on Poland’s high-speed gravel roads, but his victory hopes came to a sudden halt on stage two [Stanczyki, 29.40km].

The Hyundai driver had started Friday with a one second lead over team-mate Thierry Neuville after winning Thursday night’s super special. 

However, Tanak was forced to pull off the road 18.3km into the test with damage to the front of his i20 N. The Estonian hit a deer which ripped the radiator out of the car. Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja were unscathed following the crash.

«Unfortunately, we hit a dear,» said Tanak, who is aiming to rejoin the rally tomorrow.

«No nothing is cooked. Everything is ok apart from some parts on the car but everything is changeable.»

Tanak’s exit has handed the rally lead to the third Hyundai driven by Andreas Mikkelsen, who made the most of his lower road position to win the stage.

The Norwegian’s run wasn’t completely clean after clipping a hay bale but it didn’t stop him from scoring his first stage win since Wales Rally GB 2019.

«We tried to have a good pace, there was one corner where I hit a hay bale,” said Mikkelsen. «I tried to stay in the lines as this is the only thing we can do, we just have to attack the stage.» 

Andreas Mikkelsen, Torstein Eriksen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Andreas Mikkelsen, Torstein Eriksen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Mikkelsen was 0.3s faster than Rally1 debutant Martins Sesks, who delivered a stunning time driving a non-hybrid powered version of the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 car.

“What! Ok. That’ it,» said a stunned Sesks when he was told his time that has moved him second overall, 2.2s adrift of Mikkelsen.

Reigning world champion Kalle Rovanpera climbed from seventh to third overall [+7.9s] after posting the third fastest time in the stage. The Toyota driver, who received a last-minute call up to replace the injured Sebastien Ogier, was frustrated by not being able to push due to his rushed preparation for the event.

“The driving was not really good, it’s so difficult on this rally. I don’t remember the stages like I should. I can’t take any more risks because I don’t know where I’m going,” said Rovanpera.

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux moved to fourth which he shared with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, 8.0s adrift of Mikkelsen.    

Gregoire Munster {+12.8s], Takamoto Katsuta [19.1s] and championship leader Thierry Neuville [+21.2s] rounded out the Rally1 field.

In WRC2, Sami Pajari led the class by 6.1s from Nikolay Gryazin after overnight leader Oliver Solberg suffered a power issue with his Skoda Fabia.

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Hyundai able to save part of 2025 WRC car plan after FIA U-turn


Hyundai can salvage a “fraction” of its plans for its cancelled 2025 World Rally Championship car but is not yet in a position to commit to a long-term WRC future.

The South Korean marque’s future in the championship was uncertain when the FIA announced a proposal in February that included plans to make changes to the Rally1 and Rally2 technical rules for next year.

The proposal was strongly opposed by WRC manufacturers, with Hyundai the most vocal, as the uncertainty forced the brand to cancel plans to effectively develop an all-new i20 N Rally1 car for 2025.

However, earlier this month at the World Motor Sport Council meeting, the FIA announced a U-turn on its proposal, and confirmed the technical rules will remain in place until the end of 2026. The move came after the manufacturers wrote a letter to the FIA asking for stability in regulations for 2025 and 2026 in April.

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul has confirmed that the news means some of the team’s plans for its proposed 2025 i20 N Rally1 can be saved. Motorsport.com understands that the team has been given approval from the FIA to bring forward homologation jokers to achieve this.

Abiteboul also confirmed that contract talks have started with WRC points leader Thierry Neuville, who is in the final year of his current agreement.

Neuville had stated that he was waiting on the approval of the homologation joker plan before holding renewal discussions.

Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team, Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Cyril Abiteboul, Team principal Hyundai World Rally Team, Thierry Neuville, Hyundai World Rally Team

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

“We have been fairly clear since day one of the conditions that were needed to be in rally next year and now that the conditions are there we can implement on the plan,” Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.

“The plan goes for the car, the team and the drivers. If you want to fight for the championship, you need the best car, the best drivers and the best team.

“There are a number of things and individual contracts and projects that are in the process of being implemented now we have clarity on the future.

“Some of it [the 2025 car plan] a small fraction of that [can be salvaged]. It was the line we had drawn in the sand that was going to afford us the opportunity that we needed in order to commit [for next year].”

As for Hyundai’s long-term future in the WRC, Abiteboul says the car maker needs to understand the future direction of the WRC beyond 2026 to make a business case. All-new regulations will be implemented from 2027, which are expected to be announced in December.

“For 2027, for sure is a different world — we need to understand where the sport is going from a technology point of view,” said Abiteboul.

“We need to understand where it is going from a promotion perspective. There has been a couple of announcements and I’m not saying that it isn’t going in the right direction, but it takes much more of a bigger step on the promotion side of things.

“We also need to understand where our own internal world is going. The car we are using, the i20 will be totally stopped [road car production] by then.

“We need to understand what will be the i20’s successor, and the compatibility of that successor with the direction that the sport will be taking. It is a lot of new worlds to align to see if there is a business case that can make sense for everyone.

“There will be some announcement on our plans for the future and I’m not in a position to do that right now as it revolves round a number of people at base and at headquarters, and we will do that in due course,” he added, when asked if the FIA’s announcement has cemented the team’s plans until the end of 2026.

“Obviously, I would not deny that having pushed the sport in this direction it would look strange that we don’t maintain our commitment in the sport. There will be a time for everything, but we are not in a position to fully implement our plan [for the future].”

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Sordo’s WRC future unknown after Sardinia podium


The 41-year-old capped his 191st WRC start by coming through to finish third behind Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak and Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier, as the top two were separated by just by 0.2s.

Sardinia was Sordo’s second start of the season driving Hyundai’s third i20 N following an outing in Portugal where he finished fifth. These two rallies are all that has been confirmed for the Spaniard, who set tongues wagging at the rally finish where he hinted that Sardinia could be his last WRC outing.    

“I don’t know if you will see me again, let’s see,” said Sordo when asked at the end of the Power Stage when he would be back. “I have two rallies this year I don’t want to talk about it now so let’s see. I will finish this rally with a podium, and this will make me happy.”

When pressed further on his future and asked if he would like to do more WRC rallies with Hyundai, he replied: “Let’s see I don’t know, I cannot answer this.”

Hyundai’s WRC programme manager Christian Loriaux was unable to shed any further light on Sordo’s future but hinted that this isn’t the end of the WRC road for the popular three-time top-class rally winner.

“It is not something we want to discuss here but for sure Dani has done a good rally and he had some good times in Portugal too,” Loriaux told Autosport/Motorsport.com. “You shouldn’t say that it is over for Dani, so let’s see.”

While Sordo’s WRC future is up in the air, he is set to compete for Hyundai at the famous Pikes Peak hillclimb in the USA on June 23.

Sordo will pilot a heavily-modified Hyundai Ioniq 5N EV that can generate 505kW (678 horsepower) and he is expected to drive the car for the first time this week.

“It will be good, it is more fun and a media thing than for us to try to fight for the victory,” he added.

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